As members of the Steering Committee for the 2008 National Conference on Undergraduate Education in Psychology, we realize that the future of our discipline depends on quality undergraduate programs that prepare students for advanced study in psychology. Our concern with quality education in psychology extends far beyond the future of the discipline. Psychology continues to be one of the most popular majors on college campuses, but most undergraduate psychology majors do not pursue graduate study in psychology. They select psychology as their major because they are interested in the subject and they believe that a major in psychology will provide them with the knowledge, skills, and values they will need to enter and succeed in the workforce and to thrive in their daily lives. Our recommendations for quality principles for undergraduate education in psychology are designed to ensure that psychology students are prepared for the challenges they will These principles and recommendations do not constitute the policies of the American Psychological Association (APA) or commit APA to the activities described herein.

When and where do people learn about psychology? In this chapter, we suggest that the sun never sets on the teaching and learning of psychological science. The term psychological science emphasizes the scientific nature of the discipline. Psychological science is communicated in a variety of formal and informal settings. Formal settings include a wide array of academic institutions and professional development venues, whereas informal settings include popular media, Web sites, podcasts, networking sites, family discussions and religious communities. Psychological science is taught to students across the life span, in a wide range of contexts, at all hours of the day and night, in most parts of the world, and using many instructional modalities. Psychological science is local, national, and international. Psychological science appeals to a diverse audience. In this chapter, we explore quality control of the discipline's content and address the misconceptions that are commonly held by the public. We also describe when and where people learn 81

Although institutional recognition of high school psychology is fairly recent, psychology and psychological subject matters have a history dating to at least the 1830s. By the middle of the twentieth century, high school psychology courses existed in nearly all U.S. states, and enrollments grew throughout the second half of the century. However, courses were usually elective, and most teachers lacked degrees in psychology. Studies in the latter half of the twentieth century suggested that high school psychology courses did little to prepare students for college-level psychology, probably because the high school classes often did not include core subject matters of psychological science. However, the 1990s brought several landmark developments for high school psychology, including establishment of Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (TOPPS), a number of university-sponsored institutes providing professional development for teachers, and inauguration of the Advanced Placement (AP) Psychology program. Today, high school psychology teachers enjoy increased recognition within the American Psychological Association (APA), availability of significant teaching resources, and national standards to guide course development. A million students annually take high school psychology, with about a quarter million taking the AP Psychology exam. The course is now recognized as an important first exposure to psychological science. Keywords high school psychology, Advanced Placement ExamMore than a century ago, Ebbinghaus (1908/1973) famously noted that psychology had a long past, but a short history. Although he was commenting on the broader discipline of psychological science, Ebbinghaus, if he were writing today, might express the same sentiment concerning high school psychology. After all, the relatively recent creation in 1992 of the American Psychological Association (APA)-affiliated Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (TOPSS; Weaver, 2005) and the College Board Advanced Placement (AP) Psychology exam (Benjamin, 2001) might suggest a fairly brief history for psychology in high schools. Yet, secondary school psychology has a past that predated James's (1890) classic Principles of Psychology by at least several decades (Roback, 1952), with the teaching of high school classes in ''mental philosophy'' a half century before publication of the Principles (Rolison & Medway, 1982). According to Roback, numerous textbooks existed for these courses, selling perhaps a half million or more copies in the years 1831-1881.Thus, although high school psychology has sometimes failed to receive sufficient notice from many in the wider circle of psychological science, it is not a new idea; in fact, secondary schools were teaching psychological content before the founding of many American colleges and universities. In this article, prepared in recognition of the 40th anniversary of Teaching of Psychology (ToP), our purpose is not to provide an extensive history of high school psychology, but instead to focus on its development and...